Waste disposal apparatus



Oct. 24, 1961 T. E. JENKINS 3,005,595

WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS Filed May 31, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 i 30 H 7 sW I a 10 9 032 2 2| 2 a I7 r- 6 g I I4 36 INVENTOR. THOMAS E. JENKINSHIS ATTORNEY Oct. 24, 1961 T. E. JENKINS I 3,005,595

WASTE DISPOSAL APPARATUS Filed May 31, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.THOMAS E. JENKINS BYz H [-5 ATTORNEY United States Patent WASTE DISPOSALAPPARATUS Thomas E. Jenkins, Louisville, Ky, assignor to GeneralElectric Company, a corporation of New York Filed May 31, 1960, Ser. No.32,800 Claims. (Cl. 241-46) This invention relates to apparatus for thedisposal of garbage and the like, and more particularly to suchapparatus for attachment to a sink drain for receiving a mixture ofgarbage and water, and provided with a flywheel with impeller blades anda coacting stationary shredding element for reducing or cornminuting thesolid particles to produce a flowing mixture suitable for discharge tothe sink drain; and this invention has as its general object to provideimprovements in the flywheel and shredder constructions so that theyfunction more eflectively to reduce or comminute solid particles, moreeflectively in the sense that they will grind at a more rapid rate andto a finer degree.

One problem encountered in this kind of waste disposal apparatus is thatwhen attempts are made to design a machine which will disintegrate morerapidly hard substances such as bones and the like, the machine willcomminute soft materials, such as grapefruit, potatoes, etc. at such arapid rate that the conventional sink drain may clog up.

This invention contemplates an improved material impelling flywheel andassociated shredding structure which while grinding the hard substancesat a very rapid rate will slow down the comminution of soft materials toa rate which can be handled by the sink drains usually found in homes.

This invention also contemplates such a flywheel structure whicheliminates jamming of the wheel.

Briefly stated in accordance with one aspect of my invention, I providea comminuting chamber in which there is located stationary shreddingmeans, and a flywheel for impelling material against the shredding meansincluding two top smooth surfaces both facing the comminuting chamber.One surface is generally circular in form and is located in an elevatedposition in the central area of the flywheel, while the other is ofannular form surrounding the central surface and sloping downwardlycontinuously without any re-entrant areas from the central area totheperiphery of the wheel. The structure includes a flywheel in which amaterial impelling member is supported in a retracted concealedposition. This member is caused to move upwardly and outwardly to anextended exposed material impelling position by centrifugal force whenthe flywheel is rotated. The foregoing parts are made of strongmaterials and are massive so that they will grind hard substances at arapid rate without jamming.

The central circular area preferably is dished somewhat and the twosurfaces, while they function to allow a relatively rapid disintegrationof bones and like hard substances, slow down the rate of disintegrationof soft substances to avoid drain clogging. The juncture of these twosurfaces forms one side of a throat, the other side of which preferablyis formed on the shredding ring, and the throat is designed to controlthe flow of large food particles and large masses of soft foods to thegrinding area, whereby the rate of grinding is reduced and controlled.

For amore complete understanding of this invention, reference is to behad to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of waste disposalapparatus embodying this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of certain elements of the 3,005,595 PatentedOct. 24, 1961 apparatus shown in FIGURE 1 taken from the line 22 ofFIGURE 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows; FIGURE 3 is afragmentary sectional view of parts of the apparatus shown in FIGURES 1and 2, this figure being drawn to a larger scale than are FIGURES 1 and2;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of a portion of the apparatusshown in FIGURES 1-3; and

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken through the line 55 of FIGURE 3 andlooking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring to the drawings, this invention has been shown in one form asapplied to food waste disposal apparatus comprising a generallycylindrical tubular casing or housing 1 for enclosing a grinding orshredding chamber 2 at the bottom of which the comminuting or shreddingof waste material takes place. The housing 1 is positioned in agenerally vertical position and its upper end will be adapted to beconnected with a sink drain (not shown) through which waste food andwater will be introduced into the housing 1. Any suitable means may beused to connect the upper end of the housing 1 with the sink such forexample as shown in the United States Patent No. 2,819,028 to B. J.Brezosky et al. which issued on January 7, 1958, and any suitable drainstopper means may be provided for the sink such as disclosed in thepatent to Moore No. 2,787,423 and dated April 2, 1957,- both of saidBrezosky et a1. and Moore patents being assigned to the General ElectricCompany, the assignee of this application.

Mounted inthe lower end of theshredding chamber 2. are stationaryshredding means 3 in the form of a ring, and a coacting materialimpelling disc or plate-like flywheel 4. The flywheel 4 is mounted forrotation on the central axis of the ring 3 which in turn is mountedsubstantially to the central vertical axis of housing 1. The flywheel 4is driven by a suitable electric motor 5 which is mounted in a casing 6.The ring 3 as shown is interposed between the casing 6 and thehousing 1. A casing or housing 7 surrounds the ring 3 and this issecured to the motor casing 6 in any suitable way as by screws 8.

The stationary shredding ring 3 has mounted on its inner vertical wall 9a plurality of shredding pads 10 spaced at intervals circumferentiallyaround the surface 9. Each pad extends from a point near the top of thering to a point adjacent the bottom of the ring and each comprises anupper substantially rectangular section 11 and a lower slightly recessedor set-in substantially triangular section i12 positioned to present acutting edge 12a inclined towards the flywheel 4. The circular wall ofthe grinding ring 3 in its lower portion below the pads 10 is providedwith a series of discharge openings 13 arranged entirely around thecircumference of the ring. Below the openings 13 is an inturnedhorizontal shelf 14 in which there are provided a relatively fewopen-ended notches 15.' Each notch 15 has a depth and a width eachsomewhat greater than is the thickness of the shelf 14 It will beunderstood that in the operation of the apparatus thus far described theflywheel 4 will function to impel waste material and water supplied tothe chamber 2 against the shredding means 10 to shred or comminute thewaste material into a flowable state, and that the flywheel 4 will impelthe comminuted material and water out through the openings 13 formed inthe ring 3.

The flywheel 4 is generally in the form of a disc provided with an outerperipheral cylindrical vertical surface 17 which has a running clearancewith the surround ing concentric vertical surface 18 formed on the inneredge of the horizontal shelf 14. The shelf 14 and its relationship withthe flywheel 4 is described and claimed in my co-pending applicationSerial Number 33,001, filed 21 which is of annular form surrounding thecentral" area and, sloping down continuously without re-entrant partsfrom the outer periphery of the central area 26 to the peripheral edgeofthe flywheel, as clearly shown in the drawings. Preferably the areas 20and 21 will be so dimensioned that the annular surface 21 will slopedownwardly at a relatively small angle to the horizontal; in other wordsthe section 21 is generally in the form of a truncated frustum ofa rightcone with a small slant angle measured with respect to the horizontal.

Mounted upon the flywheel 4 are a pair of impellers 22 which are mountedupon the flywheel for movement from a completely concealed retractedposition when the flywheel is stationary to an extendable exposedmaterialimpelling'position by centrifugal force when the flywheel 4 isrotated above a predetermined speed. Each impeller 22 is generally ofL-shape mounted in a vertical position on one edge of one leg 23 of theL so that the other leg 24 of the L is in a generally vertical position.The upper end of this leg 24 is received in an opening or window 25joining the upper and lower surfaces 19 and 19a of the flywheel throughthe annular surface 21; that is, it is so received when the flywheel isstationary.

- Each impeller 22 is thus mounted in a radial position with the freeend of the leg 23 outermost and the other end extending towards the axisof rotation of'the flywheel; and the outer end is pivoted to theflywheel by a pivot pin 26 which extends transversely under the flywheeland below it at a point adjacent the periphery of the flywheel. The endsof this pin '26 are supported by a pair of cars 27 formed integrallywith the flywheel below its bot-tom surface (only one ear being shown).The inner end of the leg 23 is supported by a stop seat 28 formedintegrally with the flywheel, preferably through the medium of circularweb 29 formed integrally with and depending from the bottom of theflywheel.

The supporting pin 26 and the stop 28 support the impeller 22 in such aposition and the mass of the impeller 22 is so distributed that thecenter of gravity of the impeller lies in a horizontal plane which isabove the axis of motion of the impeller. They also are so arranged thatthe center of gravity also lies between the axis of rotation of theimpeller and the central vertical axis of the flywheel. As a result,when the flywheel is stationary the impellers will lie against theirstops 28 in a retracted position. However, when the flywheel is rotatedabove a predetermined velocity the impellers will be swung outwardly ontheir axis so that the legs 24 are exposed; that is, each leg 24 willmove to the dotted line position of the left hand impeller as viewed inFIG- URE 3. Thus, when the impellers are moved to the outer positionsthey will overlie the shelf 14 and they will impel waste materialsagainst the shredding pads 10. Preferably and as shown the surface 21will be formed slightly concave so as to expose a greater area of theimpeller legs 24 when extended.

The ring 3, and the flywheel 4 together with the impellers 22 are formedof hard strong materials and they are made relatively massive so thatthe apparatus will grind very hard substances such as bones and the likewith relatively great speed, that is, relatively great as compared withcorresponding apparatus now found on the market.

As pointed out previously, one of the problems encountered in the designof waste disposal apparatus intended to. grind hard substances rapidlyis that the same machinev will grind soft materials such as potatoes,grapefruit, and the like so rapidly that the drain line likely will beclogged. I arranged the annular surface 21 to slow down the rate ofcomminution of thesofter materials, such as grapefruit halves, and infact large batches of many soft food materials.

The top annular ridge defined by the juncture of the two surfaces 20 and21 is the lower jaw so-to-speak of a throat leading from the comminutingchamber to the shredding ring; the upper jaw is defined by an annularwall 30 found on the top of the shredding ring 3 overhanging theportions of the grinding chamber within the ring, as shown. This throatcontrols the size of food particles which may enter thegrinding area. Itis proportioned so that large grapefruit halves, large potatoes and suchmaterials may not pass as a Whole into the grinding area, but must bedisintegrated into smaller parts which may pass to the grinding area.This action slows down the grinding rate, and in fact it will controlthe rate of grinding not only of large food particles but also largebatches of soft foods regarless of size. Thus, the rate of discharge tothe drain is controlled; and also the load imposed on the driving motor5 is correspondingly reduced.

If desired and as shown in FIGURE 3 a tumbler or flipper 31 for corncobs and the like may be added to the ring 3.

In order to tumble grapefruit halves and the like I provide a conicaltumbling protuberance 32 on the top of the flywheel within the centralarea 20 and at one side of the vertical axis of rotation of theflywheel.The major portion of this conical protuberance is concealed below theupper peripheral edge of the area 20, as shown, while its upper conicalpoint extends above this edge. The small amount of the cone 32 whichprotrudes above the surface 19 will substantially prevent jamming of theflywheel, particularly by bones and the like, between the grapefruittumbler and the shredding ring 3, and yet the overall height of the coneis effective to tumble grapefruit halves which fall down onto thesurface 20.

It has been found at times that waste materials, particularly fibrousmaterials, may form a ring against the vertical wall 9 "of the shreddingring 3 and as it is circulated around by the flywheel it will act as abrake against the shredding ring which, of course, will resist themotion of the flywheel and increase the load on its driving motor. Toeliminate this brake action I provide the shredding ring 3 with a seriesof secondary pads 33 arranged on the level of the apertures 13 and, asshown,

at intervals between them. As shown more clearly in FIGURES 4 and 5, Iprovide one of these secondary pads 33 for each two openings 13.

Preferably and as shown in FIGURE 2, the impellers will be provided withinclined lead-in angular faces 34 positioned when the flywheel isrotated to move toward the inclined cutting edges 12a on the pads 10;these faces will cause the impellers to be depressed by a bone or likehard object if caught between the impellers and either the pads 10, thesecondary pads 33 or the member 31.

A drainage chamber 35 is formed in the motor casing 6 beneath theflywheel 4 and grinding ring 3, as shown, and the chamber 35 in turndrains into a drain line 36 which ordinarly will be connected with thesewer through the normal sink drain.

It will be understood that in the operation of the apparatus the garbageand the like to be disposed of will be inserted into the grindingchamber 2 where it will fall upon-the upper exposed areas 20 and 21 ofthe flywheel. It will be further understood that the motor 5 will beenergized to operate the flywheel and that at the same time water willbe caused to flow into the chamber 2 from the sink. At the start of theoperation the impellers 22 will be retracted and so the flywheel byvirtue of its smooth surfaces 20 and 21 will not impart any substantialimpelling action to the materials in the chamber 2. However, when theflywheel attains a predetermined velocity the impellers 22 will swingout to their extended positions and will violently impel the wastematerials against pads and 33. The flywheel will be rotated in adirection to move the impellers 22 toward the inclined cutting edges 12aformed on the pads 10, as explained before. Eventually the wastematerial will be comminuted to a form which will flow out through theopenings 13 with the water flowing through the apparatus. The wastematerial and water will drain into the drainage chamber 35 and thence tothe drain line 36.

During operation, the smooth surfaces 20 and 21 pre sent no obstaclewhich will create a jamming situation. An object which tends to jambetween either impeller 22 and any fixed part in the comminuting chamberwill by acting on the inclined lead-in surface 34 depress the impellerto free the object. As explained before the flow of bulky, softmaterials to the grinding area and hence the the juncture betweensurfaces 20 and 21 of the flywheel speed of grinding is controlled bythe throat defined by and the overhanging surface 30 of the shreddingring.

While I have shown and described a specified embodiment of my invention,I do not desire my invention to be limited to the particularconstruction shown and described, and I intend by the appended claims tocover all modifications within the true spirit and scope of theinvention.

What 'I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States is:

1. In waste disposal apparatus including a housing defining a grindingchamber, a material impelling device in said grinding chamber comprisinga flywheel, means mounting said flywheel for rotation in said chamber,said flywheel having a smooth substantially circular generally elevatedcentral area facing said grinding chamber and also having an annularwall surrounding said central area which has an outer surface facingsaid grinding chamber and inclining downwardly continuously from theperiphery of said central area to the periphery of said wheel, said wallhaving an opening leading from the top to the bottom surfaces thereof,said opening being set back from the periphery of the flywheel so thatthe periphery is a continuous circular surface, a retractable materialimpeller having a portion within said opening, pivotal means pivotallyconnecting said impeller to said flywheel for rotary movement about anaxis below said annular wall adjacent the periphery of said wheel, and astop for said impeller, said stop and pivotal means locating the centerof gravity of said impeller so that the impeller is held against saidstop when the wheel is stationary and locating said center of gravityabove said axis when against said stop so that when the wheel is rotatedsaid impeller is rotated by centrifugal force to move said portion outof said opening to expose it outside of said annular surface in materialimpelling position.

2. In a waste disposal apparatus including a generally verticallypositioned housing defining a grinding chamber, a material impellingdevice comprising a plant-like flywheel rotatable on a vertical axis insaid chamber and having upper and lower surfaces, the upper surfacebeing formed of a central circular elevated area and an outer annulararea sloping downwardly continuously at a low angle to the horizontalfrom the periphery of said central area towards the periphery of saidflywheel, said annular area having a window connecting the top andbottom surfaces of the flywheel, said window being set back from theperiphery of the flywheel so that the periphery is a continuous circularsurface, a roughly L-shaped retractable impeller, a pivotal connectionbetween the end of one leg of said impeller and the under surface ofsaid flywheel adjacent the periphery thereof and a stop heneath saidunder surface holding said impeller when the flywheel is stationary sothat its other leg extends up into and is enclosed by said window, andthe pivotal connection and stop supporting said impeller so that whenthe wheel is rotated above a predetermined velocity the impeller isrotated by centrifugal force to move said other leg out of said Windowabove said annular area to an exposed material impelling position.

3. The waste disposal apparatus defined in claim 2 in which said centralarea is generally concave in form and said annular area is generally inthe form of a truncated right circular cone with its slanting sidemaking a relatively small angle with the horizontal.

4. Waste disposal apparatus comprising a generally vertical housingdefining at its bottom a comminuting chamber, a stationary shreddingring is said chamber for receiving waste material and water and havingin its walls a plurality of apertures through which comminuted wastematerial and water are expelled from said chamber, a generally disk-likematerial impelling flywheel rotatable in a generally vertical axis inthe center of said ring, said flywheel having an opening adjacent itsperiphery connecting its top and bottom surfaces, said opening being setback from the periphery of the flywheel so that the periphery is acontinuous circular surface, an L- shaped retractable impeller member,and means sup porting said impeller member is a generally radialposition on the edge of one leg with said one leg located under saidflywheel and the other leg of said member extending up into said openingin a withdrawn position when said flywheel is stationary so as to beconcealed by said flywheel, said means including a pivotal connectionconnecting the outer end of said one leg to the underside of saidflywheel adjacent its periphery and a stop for the inner end of said oneleg, said means supporting said impeller member with its center ofgravity above its axis of movement so that when the flywheel rotatesabove a predetermined speed said member is swung upwardly by centrifugalforce to move said other leg to an exposed position above and beyond theperiphery of said flywheel for impelling materials against saidstationary shredding ring.

5. Waste disposal apparatus comprising a generally vertical housingdefining at its bottom a comminuting chamber, a stationary shreddingring in said chamber for receiving waste material and Water and havingin its walls a plurality of apertures through which comminuted wastematerial and water are expelled from said chamber, a generally disk-likematerial impelling flywheel rotatable in a generally vertical axis inthe center of said ring, said flywheel having a smooth substantiallycircular generally elevated central area that is concave upwardly facingsaid grinding chamber and also having an annular surface surroundingsaid central area which inclines downwardly continuously from theperiphery of said central area to the periphery of said flywheel, atumbling protuberance located on the flywheel within the concave centralarea and extending only slightly above the top surface of the flywheelto prevent bone jams and the like, retractable impelling means on saidflywheel for impelling materials into shredding relation with saidshredding ring when the flywheel is rotated, and a material flowcontrolling annular throat leading to said shredding ring formed on oneside by the juncture ridge of said smooth central surface area and saidannular surface, and said ring having an annular wall overhanging saidflywheel to define the other side of said throat.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,045,690 Armstrong ....Iune 30, 1936 2,588,182 Van Ranst Mar. 4, 19522,760,730 Jordan ..Aug. 28, 1956 2,853,248 Long 'Sept. 23, 1958 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE 0F CORRECTION Patent No 3,005,595October 24 1961 Thomas E. Jenkins 5 It is hereby certified that errorappears in the above numbered petent requiring correction and that thesaid Letters Patent should read ea corrected below.

Column 5, line 55, for "plant-like" read plate-like column 6, lines 13and 241 for "is", each occurrence read in Signed and sealed this 17thday of April 1962;

(SE-AL) Attest:

ESTON G. JOHNSON DAVID L, LAD]; Attesting Officer Commissioner ofPatents

